Motorists who have long suspected that the taxman has increasingly been using fuel levies as a way to increase overall tax revenue are correct.
Although how much the public pays at the pump is largely down to the vagaries of the value of the rand to the dollar, as well as the ups and downs of international oil prices, the government has not been shy to use the fuel levy as a way to boost its coffers.
This can be seen in revenue from the fuel levy shooting up from R24.48 billion in the 2008-09 financial year to more than treble at R75.37 billion for the 2018-19 period.
By comparison, the total amount of tax collected has only doubled from R616.99 billion to R1.28 trillion over the same period.
This means that R1.77 out of every litre of petrol bought, which included the fuel levy, Road Accident Fund and customs and excise, went to the taxman, 10 years ago. In this financial year, this figure has risen to about R5.73 a litre.
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